On March 5th, I attended a service event called the Brewers Ball through my club on campus, Breathe Hope. This event was put on by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and was hosted in downtown Columbus. There are chapters of this organization all around the country, and with my club, we volunteer through the Central Ohio chapter.
This was the first time the organization hosted the Brewers Ball, and it seemed to be a large success. As a volunteer, I worked the silent auction table. We also had people running check in/check out, and doing what they call “Bid for a Cure”. In this, attendees are just able to make general donations to the foundation. At this event, they also announced the winners of the Columbus’ Finest. This is a competition in which honorees are nominated and selected based upon their successes in their professional field, their spheres of influence, as well as their wish to do philanthropic events. They each have 17 weeks to raise at least $2,500 and donated at least 2 items valued at over $100 to the silent auction. The winner was announced at the event, and she had raised over $16,000. In total, the honorees raised over $50,000 throughout their 17 weeks for the foundation.
The entire purpose of all of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundations events is to raise money for those who have the rare generic disease Cystic Fibrosis. This disease affects over 30,000 people in the country, and more than 70,000 people worldwide. Since it is rare, there is low awareness for it. By hosting events, the CFF can raise awareness also which increases the chances of finding a cure.
While there is no cure for this, there have been an increasing amount of medications put out to limit the symptoms allowing those diagnosed to begin living with a better life quality. There have been drastic improvements in the medication and general knowledge about CF since the 80s. The life expectancy then for someone diagnosed was only around their teens. However, with new developments, the life expectancy has increased today to around 44 years old. Much of the research relating to CF has been funded by the CFF. In addition to funding research and medication improvements, the CFF also works to help patients who cannot afford all of the medications they need to live with CF. The newest drug, Trikafta, has been able to help around 90% of patients with CF which is absolutely ground breaking. It is also one of the first medications to begin targeting the actual issue in the genes instead of just working to mask symptoms. It came in the fall and it has shown drastic improvements in those who are able to use it.
In terms of international affairs, CF is a disease that affects individuals all over, not just in America. The research and drug development funded by CFF goes to help patients all around to world. There are over 40,000 patients outside of the US. CFF continues to be the world’s leader in the search of a cure. In addition, CFF is an organization that